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Best boating lake in your state.

Michiman said:
Maybe we should close down this thread. Ignorance is bliss after all.

So, what’s the catch with Hartwell? I looked on Zillow and lakefront homes are downright cheap. Too hot? Too crowded?
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Keep looking. It depends on what part of the lake/state you are looking at! Prices vary......
 
Michiman said:
Maybe we should close down this thread. Ignorance is bliss after all.

So, what’s the catch with Hartwell? I looked on Zillow and lakefront homes are downright cheap. Too hot? Too crowded?
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The catch - The lake is managed by the US Army Corp of Engineers, this is good and bad, heavy shoreline restrictions. Water level fluctuates up to 6 feet. Sometimes a foot in a week. (Recreation is not the USACE's primary focus, even though it brings the most revenue to the local economies.) Lake homes / lots that are as you describe "downright cheap" will have a catch - 1) Usually not permitted to get a dock. They call it "red zoned". 2) Very steep slope to lake. 3) Shallow water access, meaning every water level change you have to move the dock in or out. 4) Lot restricted to platform or small dock. The Corp dock restrictions appear to be somewhat arbitrary, and permits must be renewed every 5 years. 5) Access to civilization by roads (shops / stores) is 30 plus miles away. 6) Houses built so close together you can hear your neighbors toilet flush.
We searched 12 years to find the lake house that did not have the above listed detriments. Of course, these listed potential issues along with being an hour from a major metropolitan area means there is very little boat traffic. I have never found it too hot or too cold to boat on Lake Hartwell. If you do find the right Lake House, it can be a little slice of heaven.
 
WVFan4 said:
Lake Hartwell is a beautiful lake. We bought our boat at in Elberton, GA, and passed by Lake Hartwell on the trip. I would love to take the boat down there some day and go out on the lake. It looks great.
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WVFan4 - If you get back to the area, would love to give you a weekend tour of our Lake, our lake house is about 25 miles from Clemson University, Clemson and Seneca have lots of hotel space and some are located on the on lake., I don't think there are any that provide docking though. There are many VRBO and other rental homes that are on the water. In fact our neighbor rents out the bottom half of there home routinely for boaters. No need to bring your boat, unless you really want to, you can tour with us. One caveat, in Spring of 2024 we are beginning our Great Loop adventure, (not on a pontoon) and will be gone for the year, and maybe part of the next.
 
DVW said:
Upper UP. Was there 2 weeks ago. Dreaming about going back but for now I am stuck down south.
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I spent 5 years in Houghton at Michigan Tech. Best snowmobiling in the state. Always enjoyed riding sleds in God's country :cool:
 
In Tennessee, I've been on two lakes. Tim’s Ford lake is a nice lake to own a water front house with a slip. But can be shallow off the main channel (especially in the winter). Very few on water refueling points. Center Hill lake, where my Tritoon is docked, is very big (long), very deep, a lot of coves, and very good marinas. USACE just redid the boat launch near the dam (I’m at a marina). The main negative is that it’s gets crowded on the weekends in the summer. Thus the water outside of the coves can be choppy. Still plenty of room to ski, tube, or wakeboard. I’ve heard KY lake is supposed to be good.
 
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In Missouri, there are a lot of options but a couple would dominate the list based on the boat I had and the experience I wanted.
Lake Of the Ozarks would be the choice if you have a big boat with a big motor/s and wanted a party experience. Lots of festivals, the shoot-out, and a huge variety of marinas, restaurants, and thousands of miles of shoreline make it world famous for a reason.
Table Rock Lake is my favorite, with plenty of facilities options, crystal clear water, and no need for a big boat to survive the traffic. A big lake but easy to find a secluded cove if that's what you are looking for or you can head to any of the "houseboat" coves and raft up for a good time.
 
I will throw out another NC lake. While I live at Lake Norman, I also enjoy Fontana Lake in the mountains of southwestern NC. Lightly used (at least compared to Norman). It is surrounded by national forests so there is little development up near the dam (which was built by TVA during WWII to supply electricity for aluminum production). July 4th a few years ago we rode our Waverunner from the dam upstream and only passed 6 boats in a 17 mile run until we got past the national parks, then very few others afterwards. We got about 25 miles from where we put in and a big storm was brewing, so I don’t remember if we saw anyone in the 30 minutes it took to get back. The first 25 miles were peaceful, the last were a blur.
 
Alabama has a bunch of great lakes. Pickwick, Wilson, Wheeler and Guntersville lakes on the Tennessee River are hard to beat.

The entire Tennessee River system runs 650 miles from Western KY to Knoxville, TN, and it is undoubtedly the premier inland cruising in the U.S. It gets more beautiful the farther east you go. Muscle Shoals, Decatur, Huntsville, Guntersville, Scottsboro are AL cities west of Chattanooga.

Other magnificent lakes are Martin Lake just north of Auburn-Opelika and Smith Lake NW of Birmingham.

Our lake house is at Muscle Shoals on Wilson Lake. It's only 16,000 acres, but the lake is deep and wide. It's the premier lake for large catfish and large smallmouth bass anywhere. This lake is very residential with seawalls and concrete fixed boathouses. The average home is 5000+ square feet, and there are hundreds and hundreds of them. We have a 7 mile sunset view and 55' water off our double boathouse. And two Robert Trent Jones championship golf courses are 1/4 mile down the street. It's one of those places golfers would call heaven. And two other 40,000 acre lakes are within 10 miles of us.
 
Kcsaab said:
In Missouri, there are a lot of options but a couple would dominate the list based on the boat I had and the experience I wanted.
Lake Of the Ozarks would be the choice if you have a big boat with a big motor/s and wanted a party experience. Lots of festivals, the shoot-out, and a huge variety of marinas, restaurants, and thousands of miles of shoreline make it world famous for a reason.
Table Rock Lake is my favorite, with plenty of facilities options, crystal clear water, and no need for a big boat to survive the traffic. A big lake but easy to find a secluded cove if that's what you are looking for or you can head to any of the "houseboat" coves and raft up for a good time.
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LOTO is simply one of the premier lakes in the U.S. Full of homes and condos.
Lake of the Ozarks is Branson's lake and it's quite beautiful.
Bull Shoals is another amazing lake--down on the AR state line. It's not as settled as the above, but look at it on any map.
 
I'm extremely partial to Higgins Lake, but it has zero restaurants or bars. The 4th of July weekend is a total "sh*&show" but otherwise not very crowded. The water is crystal clear (but cold), and has plenty of shallows to enjoy. But beware the "sunken island".

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SeaDog SC, thanks for the invite. I may take you up on that someday. I appreciate it!!!!!
 
While our main residence is in NC and we've boated many lakes here, when shopping for a lake house we opted for Smith Mountain Lake in VA. We love it and in our opinion it is worth the extra drive. Home ownership has gotten pretty steep there though. It can get busy (especially holiday weekends), but we are retired and generally play on the water midweek. Here is a May midweek afternoon drone shot with hardly a boat on the water :)
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PRaudio said:
While our main residence is in NC and we've boated many lakes here, when shopping for a lake house we opted for Smith Mountain Lake in VA. We love it and in our opinion it is worth the extra drive. Home ownership has gotten pretty steep there though. It can get busy (especially holiday weekends), but we are retired and generally play on the water midweek. Here is a May midweek afternoon drone shot with hardly a boat on the water :)
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"Pretty steep" ?? We looked at townhomes there in 2019 that were selling for 500-600. The same ones are a million now. If we had only known then. Lol
 
BigD said:
"Pretty steep" ?? We looked at townhomes there in 2019 that were selling for 500-600. The same ones are a million now. If we had only known then. Lol
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Very true. We were incredibly lucky by purchasing the SML house in 2019. Homes in our neighborhood are now selling for astronomical prices in the matter of days.
 
Catthief said:
I'm extremely partial to Higgins Lake, but it has zero restaurants or bars. The 4th of July weekend is a total "sh*&show" but otherwise not very crowded. The water is crystal clear (but cold), and has plenty of shallows to enjoy. But beware the "sunken island".

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Higgins is an incredibly beautiful lake so I can certainly understand your infatuation. It’s also rather expensive so as to keep the riff raff such as myself away. Lol!
 
No offense to my fellow Michiganders but 9900 acre Higgins Lake with 21 miles of shoreline is20210606_122058.png20220529_124819.jpg20220730_144236.jpg clearer, cleaner, and has more space to "spread out" in the shallows and sandbars than most others. Other than July 4th, it is often very low key, with little wait times at the numerous public launches. Two State Parks at either end, but no bars or restaurants anywhere to be found. We set up a grill and open the bar right on the water often at South State Park (please ignore my temp flag pole from last summer).

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